When my grandpa passed away 2 years ago he left me a regular cab, long box, 4x4 F150 with a 302. Well, the tranny was hashed in it when I got it so in went a new tranny, and a new set of Wild Country XTX 31x10.50s. It's been in alot of sloppy/slimy mud and a fair ammount of snow (it is my farm and deer hunting rig). Tonite I figured I'd take it out for a drive and shoot a coon or something. Well to make a long story short, the frost came out of the ground today in the corn field. I was spotlighting along the edge minding my own business when I felt this funny sinking feeling. So I mashed the gas (this pickup has never revved over 4,000rpms that I've seen), and low and behold it hit like 5600rpms and the rev limiter....So there I was, bouncing off the rev limiter throwing mud like crazy (limited slip rear end), when all the sudden my forward momentum came to a halt. I slid it into 4 high and stood on it in reverse, nothing.....Forward, nothing......I'm like grrrrreat, out in the middle of no-where and i left my cell phone at home like an idiot. I got this great idea to try 4-Low, put it in, stood on it (5600rpms) and was turning the wheeels wildly hoping to catch.........She caught and I launched outta the edge of the corn field and into a soybean field to high ground.

So, in order to get some tech here I got a question for you guys with 302s. Why has this pickup never revved over 4000rpms (I've tried many times) and all the sudden it hit almost 6000rpms tonite? Just how much damage did I do? LOL

I'll take a picture of it in the daylight tomorrow, not a lot of mud on it, but a fair ammount.

 

Maybe your grandpa was watching over you that night.

He was pissed because you were about to loose his truck to a mud-hole

 

Good idea.

My truck goes over 4k. What would the rpm be on an engine going 30mph with a 3.55 rear, .7 OD, and 30" tires? That'll be the redline on my 94 302...and if that is 4k then I'd love the sound of 5-6k.

 

A lot of trucks want to shift before you redline, unless you hold it in gear, especially since you have 31s. The bigger tires can throw off the shift points.

Or you aren't trying hard enough.

I've had both my 300s over 5000 rpms more than once and they are still living. So since your 302 is built to rev more than a 300, I think you'll be fine.

 

hmmm one of the guys that lives around here and races his EB bronco with the stock 302 revs it 5200 and slides his foot sideways off the clutch, and when I had the 302 in my 86 that I raced I set my shift light at 6200, but then again that one wasn't stock

 

I about left marks in my pants when my 300 hit 5400 rpm's once....accident. How do you compute rpm's?

 

My bad...I listed my OD...I need tofind the 1st gear ratio for my M5OD....whooops.

 

Ya the only explanation for me getting out of that mess with that pickup was grandpa musta been riding shotgun. He always told me when in doubt power out, so that is what I did!

 

Yeah i keep my 400 pegged (aka trying to punch the gas peddle through the the floor) at around 5500-6000 rpm, man does that ever sound good reving like that and it hasn't hurt it yet after a half dozen mud boggs last summer.

 

with a tachometer...

my busted up 300 with rods that slightly knock well it didn't sound too good. My 300 with 4bbl and header sounded pretty sweet..

 

These 302's are tough little engines, We have one in a bronco that is used for off-road racing and tough trucks. It see's 6000 rpm every run and hasn't had any problems. The motor is all stock inside with a Edelbrock intake and Preditor carb and open headers. Also it has had a carb stud nut ran through it and still runs ok, we were quite suprised at that and lucky. Very impresive engine.

 

My truck mysteriously lost its tach...hence I ask. Who orders a MTX truck without a tach.

 

the 302 in my ol mans 95 revs about 5500 before the limiter comes on.....little does he know that ive had it that high hehe

 

I have had my 300 up to 5200, it scared the ***** out of me! It has happened a couple times now, it didn't seem to hurt it though. I am not a big fan of 302s, mainly because they are a short stroke engine. They don't seem to produce that nice low end grunt that the 300s and 351s do, I haven't seen them last as long as a 300 either. They are pretty good motors, you just need to take care of them and they'll run forever. They don't mind RPMs too badly either. I know a kid who had a 302 in a 95 Mustang GT, he hit 6500 in his regularly with no problems. Of course it was also a roller motor... it makes me cringe just thinkin about it!

 

Also if the motor is underload I wouldnt worry about it, its when the motor isnt the harmonics tend to break stuff.